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Too Sick For School?

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    You’re cruising along getting the kids ready for school when everything comes to a screeching halt with the simple phrase of ‘Mom I don’t feel good.’ It’s one we hear at least once a month, but deciphering the symptoms to know whether your child should go to school or stay home can be challenging. How do you know when it’s the real deal, theatrics or something else going on? 

    Pediatricians say the first tell-tale sign is fever higher than 100.5 degrees. Northland mom and mother of two Wendy Barth knows that rule of thumb all too well. Barth says her 8-year-old daughter woke up one morning with a sore throat and low grade fever. Her 11-year-old son recently had had a bout with strep throat, so Barth decided to keep her daughter home concerned she was coming down with the same illness. But Barth says by lunchtime her daughter was ready to go outside and play soccer. “I knew I was played.”

Pediatricians say it’s better to be safe than sorry. Dr. Kenneth Wible with Children’s Mercy Hospital says, “It takes a period of observation for you to determine whether this is something real or not and I think sending them off to school with that uncertainty is not wise.” What is certain is a fever is one of the few symptoms that can be measured, giving parents a red or green light on whether or not to send their child to school. Many schools and daycares require a child to be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school. 

    With concerns of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, doctors and school districts are urging parents to err on the side of caution. “If it seems pretty convincing to you something could be going on, it’s best to have them checked out especially these days and times with swine flu,” says Dr. Melanie Lively with Health Care for Children. 

    Lively is a mother of four and says if there’s no fever, making that decision may depend on their age. Older kids, she says, are able to communicate with their teacher or the school nurse if they are feeling worse and need to go home. They’re also generally better at preventing the spread of germs than younger kids. “Little ones don’t practice as good coughing and sneezing techniques as the older kids,” says Lively.

Still think your child is faking it? Wible says mealtime opens the lines of communication so you’ll have a better sense of a true illness versus fear of attending school. “They aren’t necessarily faking. The symptoms may be very real but they may not be based on a true physical illness.”

Other symptoms to keep your child home from school:

Heather Claybrook is a Northland mother of three young children.

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